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Thursday, August 4, 2011

In Which We Have a Truly Massive Garden Update, and Dunkin Donuts Goes America on Everyone's A**

I cannot guarantee that the first half of this post will make any sense to those of you readers outside the New England area. I am also going to suggest (mild spoiler) not reading this half during breakfast. But I think we can all agree that Paramount dropped the ball when they chose not to release the Captain America movie on Independence Day weekend, even though it doesn't seem to be hurting the film much.

Fortunately, their unusual promotional partner, Dunkin Donuts, did no such thing, releasing their tie-in specials just in time for July fourth. Now, I've recently been weaning myself off coffee and it's partially because my local Dunkie's has done something wimpy to their brews (in my day, we didn't need flavor shots!) I'd had my Obligatory Coffee Coolatta back at Comicon and would have been done for the summer season... until this ad, starring a dog with a punny name who wants to kill all humans, started running:

As you may know, if there's anything I can't pass up, it's campy patriotism. So I was pretty determined to get my hands on a Dunkin Donuts cup with Captain America's shield on it. But something far more spectacular awaited me inside.

A TRIPLE red white and blue Coolatta.

Now, it wasn't until I had the drink in front of me that I realized it isn't a physics-defying triple-blend of some kind. The three flavors (raspberry, vanilla, cherry) are each separated in their own little compartments. (In hindsight I have no idea how I thought the alternative was supposed to work.) The taste is basically straight-up sugar with some recognizable flavor and loads and loads of food coloring. Same goes for the matching donuts.

Which is to say, shortly after I hit the bottom of this thing, I may have thrown lots of red dye and patriotism up into the lake. That'd be a sincere thumbs-down on the triple-Coolatta then. At least the cup is cool.

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So what of the Gardens?

I apologize for the blurry picture, but I've been seeing the Oriole and his lady-friend quite often lately.

I also met a couple of cuties at a garden center:

These two fledglings were flopping around one of the center's greenhouses and being cute but cacophonic. I never got a good look at their parents, so if anyone has any idea what species they are, let me know in the comments (best guess is some kind of Icterid). Here's a better look:

And this might be my favorite photograph of a bird I've ever taken. It's a reminder of just how light they really are!

Over in the Victory Garden, we've got flowers everywhere! These are on the summer squash.

The peas are also in flower and they've grown quite tall. I think I spot a pod or two in there!

And lastly, I finally got to do this:

That leaf is fresh from the garden. I just realized that this kind of thing is only okay to brag about because they are plants.